Blood of a True Ninja
by half-demon priestess
Summary: Wave Arc fic. Sasuke isn't the only the one to unlock a blodline and he's mad as hell about it. He's going to do the stupidest thing of his life but it turns out to be the best thing for Naruto! NaruXHina in future? a/n Haku is still a guy in this!
1. Betrayal on the Bridge!

Blood of a true ninja

Blood of a true ninja

Chapter one: Betrayal on the bridge

Naruto shivered on the cement, the masked boy's jutsu made the air impossibly cold but it did wake him up. He struggled to stand as the senbon imbedded in his body impeded the movement in his shoulders, gasping slightly he looked at Sasuke. The Uchiha turned to face him after the barrage of needles paused, Naruto's eyes widened at the red comma marked eyes.

"The sharingan…" He murmured. Naruto pushed himself up onto his feet to stand next to him. "What's the plan Sasuke? He's just toying with us…"

"Shut up loser! The plan is that you distract him and I'll take him out or is that to much for you?" Naruto averted his eyes and focused of the ninja, he winced in pain as he made a hand sign to focus his chakra. 'Damn needles… If only I was as fast as him…' He focused the chakra in his legs and made a dash for outside the of the mirrors, Naruto felt something in his blood boil as the ninja appeared in front of him. The ninja seemed to be moving exceptionally slow for some reason. 'Is his jutsu finally failing?'

Naruto slid on the icy concrete between the ninja's legs and his feet struck the ice mirror in front of him.

"What how did you?" The mist ninja sounded stunned, Naruto pulled out a kunai refusing to let this opportunity go to waste (even if he had no idea how this was happening) and pushed him-self off the ice to attack the mist ninja. Unfortunately for him the Mist ninja still moved fast enough to dodge the fatal attack enough for it to just cut him in the side.

Unable to stop Naruto crashed into the mirror opposite to him, Naruto's eyes widened in shock as the mirror engulfed him with a cool sinking sensation before he flew out the other side. Desperate to not fall of the bridge Naruto grabbed the railing before he was flung over the edge.

Panting with exhaustion, Naruto pulled himself up from the railing and sighed in relief as his feet meet the solid concrete; his relief was broken by a light cracking sound. Naruto, Sasuke and the mist ninja watched horrified as the mirror he had fallen through shattered and fell to the ground. The one he had landed on before was also cracked beyond repair.

"How the hell…?" Naruto mumbled.

The mist ninja woke from his shock and ran back in the direction where Kakashi and Zabuza were battling. Naruto and Sasuke were seconds behind him; they saw him fling himself in front of Zabuza, who was pinned down by a group of dogs.

They slid to a stop half a metre away from the two, Naruto looked on in horror but Sasuke's mind was whirling. As Kakashi descended on the two unable to see the masked ninja in his way, Sasuke pushed Naruto into the mist ninja.

Caught by surprise, Naruto felt Sasuke's hands pushing him forward. He crashed into the boy, putting him-self in his place and before he could get out of the way he felt the full force of chidori strike his stomach.

Naruto struggled to stand as he felt Kakashi pull back in horror; he felt the blood in his throat and coughed in an attempt to breathe. The two mist ninja stared at him, he couldn't see them but he could feel their eyes boring into him just as Kakashi did.

"Naruto, how…?" Naruto lifted his head to look him in the eyes and coughed unable to speak. He'd never been in so much pain before, Naruto fell to his knees. The cold cement felt surprisingly pleasant against his skin he thought, he just wanted to lie down and rest but unconsciousness eluded him. As the mist cleared he heard a scream pierce the air, part of him realised it was Sakura but he honestly couldn't care at the moment. As the edges of his vision turned black the pain began to subside until he finally drifted into a deep sleep.

Kakashi stared and stared. He didn't care about the battle anymore; all he could think about was his student that was lying on the ground bleeding to death by his own hands. It shouldn't have happened he'd gone straight for Zabuza, with his sharingan he'd been able to see Naruto at a safe distance, he'd been safe but then he was falling right in front of Zabuza. Kakashi couldn't comprehend it even after all he'd been through.

As Naruto fell unconscious he felt a spike of chakra come from him, the chakra of the Kyubi no Kitsune. Kakashi had never thought he'd be happy to ever sense that chakra again but he was. Kyubi wouldn't let his jailor die, the fox would keep him alive and he could be taken back to Konoha hospital and Kakashi would train him so this would never happen again but first he was going to rip those two ninja into shreds!

"Some demon you are Zabuza, you can't even kill a bunch of little kids!" Gato's booming voice announced his presence and that of his hired thugs. He tapped his cane on the cement. "Consider this your resignation Zabuza!" Zabuza turned to Kakashi.

"Since I no longer work for Gato, I have no business with you now Kakashi…" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think so Zabuza, Gato is now a threat to the bridge builder so since you are obviously going after him I propose a temporary alliance…" Zabuza nodded.

"I agree Kakashi, Haku, get our stuff from our base and put it where we agreed for when this happened." Haku nodded. The two jounin ran for the group making identical hand signs.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" The two dragons formed leaving no-one alive in its wake.

Kakashi and Zabuza looked at each other calculatingly.

"Since my business is done, I'll be going now…" Kakashi nodded slightly and Zabuza vanished. Kakashi turned to the bridge builder.

"I guess we'll be going to since I have injured students to attend to…" Sakura pulled at Kakashi's sleave weakly.

"Sensei, Naruto's gone…That boy took him…" Kakashi turned cold on the inside.

"What?" Sakura flinched and shrunk back holding a shoulder with senbon sticking out.

"That masked boy took him; he said something about them 'being the same', what should we do?" Kakashi pulled his headband down angrily and sighed in defeat.

"There's nothing we can do, there already long gone and I can't sense any of them anymore…" Kakashi found it strange that Sasuke never said a word about what happened to Naruto.

Hidden in the boarder of the wave country:

Naruto groaned quietly as he opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling.

"You're finally awake…" Naruto turned his head to see the boy he'd met in the woods. Naruto slowly took in his surroundings and spotted a familiar style mask, with a scratch between the eyes.

The gears in his head whirled and he began to sweat nervously when he put two and two together, he may not know much but he did know that being incapacitated near an enemy was a very-very bad thing.

"What do you want with me?" Naruto flinched and rubbed his throat, it felt painful just to talk and his voice was just a whisper.

"You don't need to be afraid; I'm not going to hurt you anymore. Gato fired us so we don't need to fight anymore. I'm called remember?" Naruto blinked. 'That's a relief… Wait…'

"Where are my team mates?" Haku looked at his feet.

"Forgive me; you were bleeding so badly I thought you were going to die so when Zabuza-sama ordered me to come here I brought you with me-I didn't think it was such a good idea to leave you with your team mates since one of them tried to get you killed…" Haku whispered. Naruto flinched visibly and knew Haku was right. 'Sasuke tried to get me killed, what did I ever do to deserve that?'

"Have you always been able to do that?" Naruto snapped out of his thoughts realising Haku was speaking again.

"Do what Haku?" Haku looked at him confused.

"Didn't you realise?" Taking the look on his face as a 'no' Haku continued. "You moved faster than even I can with my crystal ice mirrors and…" Haku paused for a moment. "You passed through my mirror like I thought only I could, you even broke it, if those aren't bloodline traits I don't know what is!" Naruto shook his head.

"There's no way I have a bloodline trait… If I did I'd be fawned over by the village like…" Naruto paused not wanting to say 'Sasuke'. "Like some people I know and they wouldn't have sealed k-…" Naruto shut up and looked away; Haku had been nice enough but there was no way he was going to tell his secret to a complete stranger.

"Sealed what Naruto…?" Haku asked once again confused by his actions, Naruto pulled the blanket over his head.

"It's not important Haku…" Haku nodded deciding he wouldn't get anymore out of Naruto for the moment. 'Maybe Zabuza-sama will know something.'

"Naruto, you still are wounded you know. If your not going to talk to me you should at least come out from under there and get cleaned up so I can treat it… You need to replace those ruined clothes…"

"Wait what is ruined!?" Naruto pushed off the blanket and sat up. He looked down at his clothes or what was left of them; he had nothing but boxers on. "What happened to my clothes?" Haku sighed.

"Between my needles and the hole in your stomach they weren't that salvageable; I can put that white swirl on another shirt if it makes you feel any better though…" Naruto nodded.

"Thankyou Haku… Why are you being so nice to me?" Haku smiled.

"It's because were the same, I can tell you know what it's like to be useless. To have no purpose in life, to have people act like you don't even exist hurts doesn't it?" Naruto looked down but when Haku pulled out the first aid and began treating his wounds he said nothing, what Haku had said hit him hard, he'd never liked people being able to see right through him and Haku was reading him like an open book.

Hokage Tower in Konoha:

"Kakashi… Please tell me you didn't say you lost Naruto…" Kakashi flinched at the Hokage's surprisingly quiet voice, he had expected him to yell or throw things around this quite demeanour was not a good sign.

"You did not mishear me Hokage-sama; we were attack by the S-rank ninja Zabuza Momochi and his accomplice; during his hidden mist jutsu Naruto was injured and taken by his accomplice to an unknown location…" Kakashi felt the Sandaime release a large amount of anger and killing intent this way and gulped visibly. "I'll just go get Sakura and Sasuke to the hospital shall I?" Kakashi quickly pushed the two gennin out of the room glad that the Hokage made no moves to stop him. He'd gotten off easier than expected or so he thought, as he would soon find out the Hokage had just ordered a squad of ANBU to destroy his books so he'd focus on his students training a little more diligently, before they scattered outside Konoha's walls to begin the search for Naruto.

Next Chapter: Can he please stay Zabuza-sama?


	2. Can he please stay Zabuza?

Chapter two: Can he please stay Zabuza-sama

Chapter two: Can he please stay Zabuza-sama?

Zabuza sighed in relief as he rested his over-sized sword against the wall; even after wearing it for over 20 years he still found it to be heavy. He felt a small pang of pity for the boy, who had taken the hit for him but nothing more, he wasn't called the demon of the bloody mist for no reason. Years of shinobi life had shown him that shit happened; it was easier if you didn't get caught up in worthless emotions. His breath hitched in pain for a moment as his shoulders and arms complained from the bite marks Kakashi's hounds had given him. Unashamedly walking into Haku's determined to get one of those medicinal herbs to dull the pain it took him a while to realise that there was someone there who shouldn't be.

Zabuza looked at the blond lying in bed to his apprentice and swore. 'I should have known he'd try something like this!' Inwardly cursing his apprentice's kind nature he walked behind Haku and cleared his throat. Haku turned to him and sweat dropped as he looked at Zabuza.

"Zabuza-sama do you need something from me?" Zabuza's eyes narrowed.

"What is he doing here Haku?" Haku laughed nervously.

"Well it's a long story…" Zabuza growled. "Can he please stay?" Zabuza stepped back a bit; Haku normally wasn't this straight forward with him unless it was important.

"Give me one reason why I should Haku…" Zabuza stared at him intently waiting.

"Well… How about you test him tomorrow? If you're not pleased we can always drop him off somewhere so he can get back to his village!" Zabuza groaned and rubbed his aching shoulder, when he looked back down he froze. Haku was looking up at him with puppy dog eyes begging silently. He resisted the impulse to give in entirely to make him stop but just barely.

"Fine Haku but you have to remember; if he isn't good enough he goes back!" Haku nodded and smiled at him. Zabuza inwardly smirked thinking he'd outdone Haku. 'There's no way that brat will be able to do anything tomorrow with a giant hole in his stomach, I can say he didn't meet my standards and we leave him somewhere so he can run back to Konoha. I win! Mwahahaha…' With this is mind Zabuza picked up the bottle of herbs he'd wanted and left the room, pleased that tomorrow was going to go just as he planed.

Haku smiled slightly knowing what his mentor was thinking, although it was against his nature to lie to Zabuza he told himself that it would be better if Zabuza had a few more surprises in his life to keep him on guard and it would mean he'd have someone to talk to if Naruto agreed to stay.

Pulling the sheet down slightly his smile widened as he noticed that the wound in Naruto's stomach was smaller than it had been before Zabuza returned by tomorrow morning he would be completely healed. 'Zabuza-sama will be happy when he finds out about Naruto's abilities…' Haku began to hum before pulling out some clothes from the closet on the other side of the room. He wouldn't be able to sleep until his nerves from the mission wore off so he could at least make sure Naruto wasn't going to be running around in boxers when he had to impress Zabuza tomorrow. He pulled out a needle and some thread and began to work.

…MORNING…MORNING…MORNING…MORNING…MORNING…MORNING…

Naruto yawned loudly revealing a set of rather elongated canine teeth that looked like fangs.

"Did you sleep well?" Naruto felt his heart jump into his throat and turned to see Haku smiling at him.

"God damn it, stop doing that!" Haku looked at him confused.

"Do what?" Naruto glared at him.

"Don't wake me up like that! You did the same thing back in the woods it's creepy!" Haku sweat dropped slightly.

"It is not creepy!" He protested. "I just thought you might want to get dressed so you can have breakfast…" Haku said the last part sounding a little miffed.

"Why didn't you say so? I'm starved!" In a flash Naruto grabbed the clothes out of Haku's arms, was dressed in the traditional short sleeved green haori with matching pants and out of the room heading towards the smell the food was making. Haku blinked, he hoped Naruto wasn't going to make a habit of this. For someone who denied having a bloodline trait he seemed to use it a lot without realising.

Zabuza yawned and walked into his kitchen as his stomach told him it was time for breakfast. Zabuza was not a morning person so he was lead by scent alone, looking up he once again saw the blonde boy who was currently trying to get to the food without Haku noticing. Thankfully for Zabuza Haku insisted on waiting for him otherwise there wouldn't be anything left. Still not properly awake Zabuza slipped into his chair and noticed the blond boy staring at him wide eyed.

"What is it boy?" He growled the boy surprisingly didn't shrink back like most would when he spoke to them.

"No wonder you have that mask thingy on, you look like a fish with those pointy teeth!" Zabuza glared at him and Haku quickly covered the blonde boy's mouth with his hand when he looked like he was ready to continue speaking. Haku quickly turned his head to face his own.

"Don't say such things to Zabuza-sama Naruto!" Naruto mumbled something which was muffled by Haku's hand that sounded suspiciously like 'but its true' and Zabuza relented; his hunger overpowered the desire to get revenge for the comment.

Haku slowly removed his hand when he was sure Naruto wasn't going to continue and inclined his head so he was close enough to whisper without Zabuza hearing.

"Zabuza is very sensitive about his teeth; he thinks they make him look more diabolical so it would be wise if you don't mention them if you don't want him to try and skin you alive…" Naruto nodded and Haku moved back to his seat. The two boys quickly dug into their food, one of them a lot faster than the other.

Naruto finished his third plate and looked at the last plate drooling. As he'd found early on in life after he'd healed overnight (as he nearly always did) it left him extremely hungry, well… more than usually anyway. He noticed Zabuza's hand going for the last plate and growled quietly. 'I'm still hungry damn it!' Naruto reached for the plate and grabbed it an instant before Zabuza could and pulled it in front of him grinning. He quickly took a bite and he suddenly felt a lot of killing intent aimed at him, looking up he saw that Zabuza was once again glaring at him. Naruto swallowed hard and began to sweat slightly under the pressure but his quick temper once again over-ruled his common sense that was screaming at him to apologise.

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed glaring back at Zabuza.

"That was the last plate brat!" Naruto felt himself bristle in anger at the challenging tone in his voice.

"My name is Naruto not brat and that's what you get for being to slow!" Zabuza stood up and beat the table with his fist.

"I am not slow!" Naruto stuck out his tongue at him.

"Yes you are, besides I'm still growing I need all the food I can get! All that food will do to you is making you fat as well as being slow!" Zabuza's nearly invisible eyebrow twitched in anger and he grabbed Naruto in a headlock.

"Take that back boy! I am not fat!" Naruto struggled as Zabuza pulled him over the table.

"It's Naruto and you are so fat, I'm surprised you can even fit into those puffy pants of yours!"

Haku ran over to them trying to get them to separate as it escalated into an all out brawl.

"Zabuza-sama please calm down, Naruto's still hurt from the battle yesterday!" Haku hoped the white lie would calm him down, the two calmed for a moment as Zabuza thought it over before Naruto sunk his fangs into his arm as Zabuza attempted to smother him with his hand.

"Ah! Did you see that Haku!? That brat bit me!" Zabuza waved his arm around as Naruto released the grip his teeth had on his hand.

"I'm Naruto not 'brat' you bastard!"

"Don't you call me a bastard, you brat!" The two once again began to fight and Haku sighed before grabbing a bottle from his room containing a particularly offensive smelling mix of herbs. Holding his nose Haku lobbed the bottle at the pair and waited for them to notice.

Naruto was the first to notice as he froze holding his noses as his eyes watered.

"Oh god, what the hell is that?" Zabuza experimentally sniffed the air and cried out.

"Bloody hell… Haku, I told you to burn that stuff!" The two rolled around on the floor holding their noses.

"What babies, it isn't that bad…" Haku mumbled watching the two.

After Naruto and Zabuza calmed down outside the hideout:

Naruto and Haku stood at attention as Zabuza paced in front of them. Naruto leaned over to whisper in Haku's ear.

"What's this about Haku?" Haku smiled.

"Zabuza-sama promised to let you stay if you could keep up, I think he's trying to think of a way to fail you without seeming mean because you're injured…"

"But I'm fully healed!" Haku laughed softly.

"He doesn't know that yet…" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Aha!" Zabuza smirked under his mask and turned to Naruto before handing him his overweight sword. "I'm going to put you through some exercises until lunch, if you can't do it while carrying this you go back!" Naruto stumbled with the weight of the sword and Haku frowned.

"Zabuza-sama even you have trouble carrying that all the time!" Naruto pulled the sword onto his back with a grunt of effort.

"I can do it Haku; something like this isn't going to stop me!" Haku looked at him doubtfully.

"But Naruto…" Zabuza grunted.

"He already agreed Haku." Zabuza poked him in the chest. "You're not to interfere…" Haku met his eyes for a moment before looking down.

"Yes, Zabuza-sama…"

"Good…" He turned to Naruto again. "Let's go boy we'll start with a five mile run." Naruto nodded and followed Zabuza already panting under the effort of carrying the sword.

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Haku squinted to see an approaching figure around the corner. It didn't take long for him to recognise Zabuza and he felt a pang of sadness when he didn't see Naruto. Zabuza slowed before stopping in front of him.

"Hnn… Guess I lost him… That means…"

"Zabuza-sama, look there he is!" Zabuza turned quickly on his heal to see Naruto turn the corner before dropping on the ground in front of them panting.

"I… made it…" After a moment Naruto lifted his head of the ground and pushed himself onto his knees. "Zabuza what's next?" Haku giggled and Zabuza grumbled under his breath.

"There's still three hours until noon, you will be going home before that time is up!"

For the next two hours Zabuza put Naruto through a series of push-ups, sit-ups, star jumps and a rather painful exercise he liked to call the 'bone crusher.' After all of this Naruto was still going even though the sweat was poring off of him to the point that his clothes were soaked.

It didn't take long for Zabuza to get suspicious of Naruto's stamina and health since he had nearly died the day before. He began watching for the slightest detail that would explain why. It didn't take him long to find the strange feeling chakra that spiked whenever Naruto began to tire, it felt despicable somehow, he'd go so far as to say it felt demonic but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why a child as harmless as him would have chakra like that… Soon Zabuza began to get frustrated trying to figure it out and decided to go for the straight forward approach and just ask once Haku disappeared back inside the hideout.

Zabuza squatted on the branch Naruto was using to do chin-ups and poked the boy's headband free forehead.

"Brat, how did you get that demonic chakra?" Naruto's eyes widened and his grip on the tree slipped. In a no-nonsense manner Zabuza grabbed his arm and pulled him up onto the branch. "Answer me!" Naruto mumbled and looked away. Zabuza poked him in the stomach this time and Naruto gave in, still refusing to look at him.

"In my village…" Naruto sighed trying to figure out a way to say it. "On the day I was born the Kyubi no Kitsune attacked and the Yondaime defeated it by…" Naruto gulped and began fiddling with his hands. "He sealed it in the only newborn baby available at the time…"

Zabuza lifted him by the scruff of his shirt and jumped out of the tree pulling Naruto with him, Naruto began to struggle wildly in panic. "What are you doing? I'll be good I swear! I-I'll figure out how to hold the chakra back I promise!" Zabuza lifted him and the sword on his back to look the boy in the eye and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What are you talking about? I was planning on throwing you into the bathtub before lunch because I don't want a bad smell around when I'm trying to eat…" Naruto blinked.

"Your not going to get rid of me...?" Zabuza looked at him sternly.

"No boy…" Naruto looked down and let out a small 'oh' noise before Zabuza put him down. "Get in that bath!" Naruto nodded and disappeared in a flash of yellow. Zabuza stared. 'A yellow flash? Please don't tell me he's…' Naruto appeared in front of him again with the same suspicious flash.

"Which way is the bathroom?" Zabuza gaped at him slightly before regaining control of him-self.

"Third door on the right…" Naruto vanished again and Zabuza rubbed his forehead. 'I'm getting to old for this…'

Next Chapter: I accept nothing less than perfection


	3. I accept nothing less than perfection!

Chapter Three: I accept nothing less than perfection

Chapter Three: I accept nothing less than perfection

Naruto stared at the ceiling listen to the sound of Haku making breakfast through the wall in his room. 'My room…It's only been like this for five days now and I can't stop thinking about Konoha… I wonder if anyone misses me…' Naruto shook his head, thinking about it wouldn't make him feel any better, and most of the village would have had a party to celebrate his disappearance. Heck, if they'd known what Sasuke did they'd probably give him a medal. He silently counted the people who he knew who might miss him. 'Old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, Ayame and her dad at the ramen stand and maybe Kakashi-sensei… That's not many…' An image of a lavender-eyed, dark haired Hyuga girl floated in the back of his mind but he shoved it back. Hinata never so much as looked him in the eye for more three seconds let alone miss him. A little voice in his head argued that she always was looking his way or hanging around the same places he was but he ignored it growling slightly under his breath.

He couldn't afford distractions today, for the last few days Haku had been showing him advanced forms of chakra control and using senbon, he hadn't been that great at them but Haku had assured him that with practice he'd master them… but Haku wouldn't be the one teaching him today. He would have to start training under Zabuza and he was worried that he wouldn't last ten minutes before instigating another fight with the jounin. He didn't like the idea of Zabuza sending him away, despite his constant arguments with him Naruto did respect Zabuza as much as respected anyone.

"Naruto, hurry up or you'll miss out!" Naruto got out of bed at the sound of Haku's voice. He pulled on the brown short sleeved shirt with his white swirl symbol on the left shoulder, forest green sleeveless haori vest and pants tying the belt around his waist. As an after thought he hung the tracker ninja mask Haku had given him on the belt before walking into the kitchen.

Zabuza reached for a plate but Haku instantly whacked it away in a warning manner.

"Wait for Naruto-san; he will be here in a minute Zabuza-sama." Zabuza grumbled but did not make another move towards the food. He silently wondered when Haku became such a mother hen. Haku smiled slightly as Naruto entered and sat down. "Now you can eat Zabuza-sama…" The three of them ate breakfast relatively uneventfully.

When he finished Zabuza looked at his new charge. "Alright brat, today I'm going to start teaching you the Hidden Mist jutsu. If you progress fast enough we'll see what else will happen. Got a problem with that? I don't care if you do. Remember, I accept nothing less than perfection." Naruto's ear twitched upon hearing jutsu. "Good, you have five minutes to meet me at the river." Zabuza walked out of the room and Haku looked at Naruto worriedly.

"Naruto-san, you look sad. Is something wrong?" Naruto picked up his plates and put them in the sink.

"It's nothing really Haku…" Haku put his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow and Naruto looked away slightly. "I was just thinking about Konoha, it's really nothing…" Haku sighed.

"Fine, you need to go meet Zabuza-sama." Naruto nodded and walked out.

Naruto jumped from tree to tree towards the river and jumped down onto the bank. The hairs on the back of his neck raised as Naruto felt someone behind him; he pulled out three senbon in each hand and turned around quickly. Seeing the giant sword flying through air he threw himself to the ground into the mud. The sword landed in a tree on the opposite bank barely missing him by a few centimetres with a load clunk noise. Zabuza appeared on top of the swords handle and Naruto felt the anger bubble up inside him.

"No wonder you wanted five minutes! You just wanted to make a dramatic entrance you bastard Zabuza!" Zabuza jumped down and sheathed his sword. He shrugged at Naruto.

"Deal with it boy and I expect you to call me Zabuza-sama!" Naruto stood up and attempted to brush the mud of in vain.

"No way is that happening!" Zabuza's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Why can't you?" Naruto put the senbon back in their holder.

"How about I call you sensei?" Zabuza sighed.

"That's the best I'm going to get isn't it?" Naruto grinned knowing he'd won.

"Damn straight sensei!"

"Boy, get on the water and we'll start." Naruto nodded before hastily brushing his hair out of his face.

Naruto walked onto the water slowly, he wobbled at first but soon he was in the middle of the water. Zabuza talked him through the hand signs and for the next few hours he was practicing the jutsu.

…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…TIMESKIP…

Zabuza hefted the now soaked Naruto over his shoulder and placed the exhausted boy into the chair at the table. Haku hurried over as Naruto slumped over the table.

"What's wrong with Naruto-san?" Zabuza shrugged.

"He just used a bit to much chakra; he'll be fine once he gets some food."

Naruto groaned quietly as Haku placed the food in front of him.

"Thankyou Haku…" He quickly began stuffing the food down and Haku turned to the now sitting Zabuza.

"How did he do Zabuza-sama?" Zabuza grunted slightly and put his food down for a moment.

"He mastered the Hidden Mist jutsu while walking on water and he managed to sense my presence again, even in the mist." Zabuza paused for a moment. "He did the same thing when I was following his team, he sensed me before Kakashi did, I thought it had been a fluke because he'd been acting like a complete idiot but I guess I was wrong…" Naruto's head popped up from his food.

"Hey, I am not an idiot!" Zabuza threw a small loaf of bread at him.

"You are an idiot boy, we're going to fix that starting but you are an idiot!" Naruto began to protest but Zabuza shoved another piece of bread into Naruto's mouth. "Be quiet and accept it boy." Naruto did so reluctantly and finished eating. Zabuza felt slightly surprised that he'd given in so easily. Normally whenever the two of them we're around each other for more than three minutes large arguments which often led to brawls occurring. The boy's reaction was total out of character. 'Is he really that sensitive about his poor education?'


End file.
